Welcome to

Deep Dive from

the Japan Times, I'm Sean McKenna.

What you just heard there was a protest led by South Korean lawmakers and Japanese activists outside the Japanese Prime Minister's Office this week. Similar scenes met Rafael Grossi, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, in South Korea this past weekend. The problem? Though a date hasn't been announced, this summer, water used at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant is expected to be released into the Pacific Ocean. South Koreans aren't the only ones concerned. Those in the Japanese fisheries industry, Russia, the island nations of the South Pacific, and China have all voiced objections to Japan's plan and are either urging delays or scrapping the plan altogether. Today, Environment journalist Mara Butchen will join me to explain what's going on up in Fukushima. Hey Mara. Hey, Sean.

You just got back

from the Tohoku region, an area that, on March 11, 2011, was hit by one of the worst earthquakes in recorded history. The quake was so powerful that it reportedly shifted the Earth on its axis by 10 to 25 centimeters, and the tsunami that followed was responsible for the majority of the more than 15,800 lives lost from the disaster. Before we get into our discussion today on its After Effects, why don't you tell me a little bit about what the area is like now?

Yeah, absolutely. So I was in the coastal areas of Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures. I also visited Almori, but that was just for hiking. Oh, nice. So in terms of what these areas are like today, so I guess the apparent overarching fact is that buildings and infrastructure have been rebuilt over the past decade.